BUDAPEST: The forint was trading at 311.54 to the euro late Friday on the interbank forex market, down from final quotes at 310.74 on Thursday.
At 310.50 to the euro early Friday, the forint moved between 309.55 and 311.71, a ten-day low, after a two-month high at 306.64 Tuesday intraday. A 0.67% jump on Tuesday on the central bankʼs announcement that it ended its easing cycle now history, the forint is down 0.80% versus the euro from final quotes last Friday, after gaining 1.00% over the previous week. It is up 1.65% from the end of last year, after it lost 6.12% last year, and 1.95% in 2013.
The Hungarian currency pared losses against the euro which also slowed its slide versus the dollar late afternoon following data on a June fall in US new home sales. Nevertheless, the forint fell for a third consecutive day, back to its former range above 310 to the euro which better reflects local fundamentals and the effect of the euro/dollar cross, as the US rate hike still expected for September nears, analysts say.
Flash euro zone composite PMIs for July, attesting to a larger-than-expected deceleration of growth, also pressured the euro through eliminating any chance the ECB could slow its QE in view of the US rate move, and the forint followed suite.